Cockney Rebel | The Psychomodo | Album

Cockney Rebel "The Psychomodo" (1974)

LP (NEW) - Vinyl, Chrysalis, Europe, 2018, CRV 1082, 5060516091348, Reissue

Cockney Rebel rebel made two glam/art-rock masterpieces in the early '70's - The Human Menagerie (1973) and The Psychomodo (1974). With the Alan Parsons produced Psychomodo, Cockney Rebel served up another grandiose offering from the artier end of glam, in a similar vein to contemporaries such as Roxy Music and Sparks. Even as more vapid acts like the Gary Glitters of this world were taking glam's tackiest aspect and making cheap pop trash out of it, Cockney Rebel and their frontman Steve Harley produce a masterpiece of the form. The cabaret of the previous album has given way to sleazier venues (the tinny synthesiser wail at points in Mr. Soft suggests a circus or funfair, for instance), and Steve Harley is left wondering about how everything meaningful is rendered tawdry and vapid over time (as in Tumbling Down - "Look what they've done with the blues?"). The same would eventually be true of Cockney Rebel of course, but with this final release of their golden age they briefly stood against the oncoming entropy. Essential.

Artist Website: steveharley.com

More by Artist: Cockney Rebel

Related Artists: Steve Harley, Be-Bop Deluxe